By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The City of Great Bend participated in the First Impressions program through K-State Research and Extension. City officials from a similar-sized town visit a different city to judge infrastructure, shopping, navigation, customer service, entertainment and overall first impressions. Great Bend partnered with El Dorado, as representatives toured Great Bend unannounced last September and October.
One of the visitors noted there were a mix of modern and neat old buildings, and Great Bend was clean, with good streets and a lot to look at. Great Bend City Administrator Brandon Anderson, also serving on the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau Board, said sometimes residents need to visit other communities to truly realize how good they have it in their own town.
"I wish you could make everyone in your city go to another community, and get outside of the place they've lived," said Anderson. "Unfortunately, the general vibe tends to be more negative. The process of this program was really neat. I was pretty pleased with our results."
U.S. Census date showed Great Bend to have a 2022 population of 14,489, down 9.4% from 2010. The median household income for the city was $53,885 and the median age was 36.5 years.
The El Dorado representatives enjoyed Great Bend’s murals, a mix of businesses downtown and mentioned being greeted by friendly people that helped answer questions about the city. Coming from the south, the visitors felt the "Great Bend" letters in front of the Los Cabos Fajita House on Main Street were bright and inviting. The secret shoppers had enjoyable trips to the Bargain Barn, Forest Avenue Antiques, Great Bend Coffee and Great Bend Chamber of Commerce.
The El Dorado visitors stated Great Bend had a very industrial feel to it coming in from all entrances, and did not feel very welcoming. Some visitors struggled to find the downtown business area, hoping for more signage. They also noted not many homes for sale.
Jan Steen, Community Vitality Specialist with K-State Research and Extension, noted the First Impressions program is a great way to see what communities are doing well and what could be improved.
"Some communities had a 'paint downtown' initiative where they painted buildings that were run down," said Steen. "Other communities have updated their city websites because they were outdated or hard to navigate. We've had some bring some customer service training."
The visitors had positive remarks about the kindness of people, art movement, school pride and would love to attend an event on the courthouse lawn.
You can find more information from the First Impression program in Great Bend by visiting greatbendks.net.